Monthly Archives: November 2015

My WIP’s Third Revision

Preparing for Beta Readers (3)

I can find no words to describe my sorrow and frustration at the terrorist attacks in Paris. My sympathy goes out to all who were hurt or killed, and their families. Whatever their faults, they did not deserve that. I do not understand how people could do something like that, and I will never have sympathy for their cause.

I don’t know that I have ever commented on the world in my blog before. But, by remaining silent, I felt as if I supported terrorism. So, I call it for what it is…cowardly and utterly self-centered.

All I can think is how ashamed their mothers must be, to know what monsters they gave birth to. Continue reading →

My WIP’s Third Revision

Preparing for Beta Readers (2)

And I’ve kind of lost a little momentum on getting ready for Beta Readers. I’m not sure I will have my WIP where I want it by Thanksgiving.

My Trusted Reader asked me to print my WIP out for her because she didn’t take very many notes while she was reading it. I’m hoping to hear from her soon.

What Have I Been Doing?

I reworked the openings to each of my 96 scenes. Early on, as writers, we establish a contract with readers. And one of those clauses is a promise to help them when we first start a scene. So, what are those things? Tell them who the POV is, where they are, how much time has passed, and what they want.

I’ve been onScribophile for over a year and a half, and I’ve seen so many writers fight this idea. Somehow, they think they are writing to a formula, or giving everything away. They think they are being clever, but, what they are, is lazy. If they can’t do any better than making people guess who the POV is, the rest of their story will fail.

My WIP’s Third Revision

Preparing for Beta Readers (1)

I went back and looked at my story proportions. When I set out to write this, In wanted my four parts to be 20 – 30 – 30 – 20 percent of the story, in words. Parts Three and Four were very close, but Part One was a little long and Part Two as a little short. So, I found two scenes I could move into Part Two, and that got my word counts where I wanted them.

I also looked where my Story Beats fell, and thought the Story Question was falling a little late in Part One, so I found a scene I could move to follow the Story Question.

After that, I thought I was ready to print it out, but I got to thinking about Chapters, something I’d never give a moment’s thought to. So, I sat down, and after several tries, I settled on 54 chapters for my 96 scenes.